Changes in health. Need a liquid diet

That must have been horrendous for you It puts some perspective on my woes. Thank you.
I have started to keep a food diary, recording what goes down. I completely forgot about Greek yogurt, so I will add that to the list. Mince gets 'stuck', but I do make a lot of soup. Thanks again. I hope you keep well. X

Hi, I had oesophageal cancer 2 yrs ago any my oesophagus was removed and my stomach stretched upwards. I used to eat puréed food, mince and mash and some veg with butter and cheese for extra fat, I loved Greek yoghurt ( not Greek style) so smooth and cold and full of protein you can flavour with lemon curd or honey. Liquidised lentil soup very warming and satiating. Chicken should made with bone in thighs, bone broth and veg add very thin vermicelli type noodles when ready to serve nutritious and delicious. Good luck, I hope all goes well for you .

Sorry to take so long to reply. I was quite down, but I have my head around it now.
Thank you all very,very much for all of your suggestions.. I was referred to a dietitian, but the information wasn't very 'palatable'.
The surgeon explained that he would have to deflate my lungs in order to have room to work. I have C.O.P.D and deflation could have dire consequences.
He did discuss my situation with other colleagues to find out if something could be done via a type of endoscopy. However, they decided that the diverticulum is too large for this procedure to be effective.
Once again many, many thanks for your suggestions. There are some I will certainly incorporate into my eating habits.
May I wish you all a very merry Christmas. Xx

olderme, I am sorry to hear of your situation. I hope that you can use some of the good advice which you have been given here, but I want to add my voice to those saying that you should ask for a referral to a dietician. They will have expertise and support to offer.
Good luck.

I'm so sorry.

Perhaps lovely soups. Pureed.

Custards are soothing, I think.

Mashed potatoes, thinned, with gravy. Quinoa (protein) with a nice sauce. Polenta, cooked with cream and butter added (my husband loves). Orzo are quite small, perhaps small enough? With tomato sauce.

Sorry to hear that olderme - I don’t know/remember the details of your condition, but I hope something can be done about it.
In the meanwhile, invest in a good Blender/Liquidiser.
Good luck

Even commercially made puréed meals might not be soft enough OP. I would suggest home made casseroles etc that you can blend and basically ‘water down’ for want of a better explanation! That way you know what’s in it in terms of salt etc.
Sending hugs and wishing you all the very best 💐

CariadAgain

I've just checked the Vitamix. I found some on Amazon. The cheapest is £385 and the one I bought (over 20 years back) is currently £429.

So - yep....dear....but very effective.

Totally unnecessarily expensive.
Look online for eg Ninja smoothy makers, stick blenders or other goblet blenders.
There will be infinitely less expensive ways of pureeing good home made food, soups, stews etc, remembering to sieve out any lumps which might cause discomfort, but honestly you should be advised and guided by a specialist nutritionist as part of your hospital care.

I've just checked the Vitamix. I found some on Amazon. The cheapest is £385 and the one I bought (over 20 years back) is currently £429.

So - yep....dear....but very effective.

I've just rememberd something from my mother-in-law's stroke... I think the advice was not to have things too thin in case you aspirate accidentally.
There was a thickener powder to put in thinner things (such as tea and fruit juice or too-thin soups).

I'd definitely check this out with a specialist before drinking any broths or bovril or other watery things.
Please be careful.

Sorry to hear about that - how distressing!

One little thought re liquidising - get a Vitamix make of blender. They are (very) expensive (without checking = they are probably around the £300 mark now) and distinctly noisy to operate. But they are mega-powerful and will liquidise anything - and very quickly. Fortunately dietary requirements like yours aren't my reason for getting one of them - but I bought mine years and years back and it's still going absolutely strong. Just a few marks on the inside of the goblet - where it did its best to liquidise a toothbrush I put in there by mistake one time - whoops.....

I often eat wfpb foods (that's wholefood plantbased) and many breakfast recipes I write down from that are just the list of ingredients - which can include fruit, vegetables, liquids, pulses (even dried ones - uncooked), certainly canned chickpeas is one thing and I write the one instruction (ie "blitz"). Smoothies in that type of diet can include a very wide range of things - eg a couple of types of fruit, some vegetables (eg spinach), etc - and one can't taste the spinach over the fruit (but you'll have had your greens okay by adding that).

On different food topic - as for adding a bit of protein too (besides milk - whether dairy or plant) to anything savoury you're having and you'd like to add cheese - but it won't work as liquid = maybe you could try nooch? That means nutritional yeast and it's a cheese substitute (often used by vegans for protein purposes). A scattering of it (it's a sorta powder) on top of something (eg a scattering on top of soup maybe?) and you've got a cheesy taste. It can also be made into a cheese type sauce (I'm picturing eating, say, mashed potato with cheese type sauce made of nooch on top of it).

olderme did he have any other suggestions for the future?

I do hope his explanation made sense - but is it a certainty that you can't have an operation? Might it be worth a second opinion?

Thinking of you. It sounds like quite a change.
I can see why you felt terribly down about it.

You don’t mention what is causing the difficulty in swallowing. However I would have expected the surgeon to have at least referred you to a specialist dietitian to prevent any malnutrition. Dietitians can prescribe specific drinks and soft puddings all nutritionally balanced specifically for you. Ask your GP for an urgent appointment, in the meantime speak to your local pharmacist for advice. I wish you well stay strong.

Madmeg

I had these too, in the summer, when I was hospitalised for a month with pancreatitis. I liked the chocolate and vanilla.

I'm back to hospital again shortly for gallbladder surgery and have to go on a liquid only liver reducing Shake diet for the two weeks beforehand. Have received a list of brands but the only one I've heard of is SlimFast. I can have four 325ml bottles a day and water with sugar-free squash. A good selection of flavours on Amazon at less than 2/3rds the price of Boots, Tesco etc.

It is urgent but nevertheless I'm hoping that it isn't twixt Xmas and the NY or the first week of January because if it is my Christmas Day lunch is going to be rather depressing!!
.

I agree, the dietician should be an immediate call.

You do need to keep you vitamins and calories up, and muscle building proteins if you are not exercising your chew and swallow muscles.

My mum went onto forticups, which are a cross between custard and yoghourt. H&B do sell a lovely fortified fruit drink which was lovely in the Summer.

Hot chocolate if you do not feel like eating too.

One I’ve heard about is YFood.
Haven’t used it personally, but a sportswoman I know drinks it as meal substitute when she’s too nervous to eat before competing. Apparently tastes good and has range of flavours.

NemosMum

You should have been given an emergency appointment with a dietitian or specialist nurse!

This poster is right.Get and appointment asap.

The fortified drinks become very, very boring after a while as there are only very few flavours, all much the same as fruit yoghurt plus coffee and cocoa.

Blending frozen raspberries or strawberries and then mixing them into yoghurt or a similar sour milk product (if you can digest milk, that is) makes a change.

Blending soups is certainly a good idea, BUT, if you have made the soup with leeks or any other vegetable that tends to be a little stringy, sieve it as well, especially if you have had a stent inserted to widen the oesophagous. If you eat meat, a good old-fashioned chicken or beef broth strained through a fine sieve with a piece of muslin, scalded and stretched over the sieve ( hold it in place with clothes pegs, unless the cloth is a good deal wider than the sieve.) is nourishing.

If you have to do your own cooking, and don't feel up to it, Knorr's powdered soups in packets, are extremely useful in your situation. And of course, Bovril comes into its own here, too.

Can you manage to swallow mashed potatoes if they are very smooth and have had a lot of milk or vegetable stock added, so they more nearly resemble gruel?

A raw egg, well beaten and mixed with buttermilk and sugar is another possiblity.

You can blend cooked mince, but it looks quite disgusting, so that may put you off. I invented the dish when a cat had been bitten on the jaw-bone by a rat. The bite swelled, and even after the boil burst and the vet prescribed antibiotics, the poor cat found chewing painful, but was hungry enough, and after all a cat, so unperturbed by the look of minced cat-food!

I hope your consultant is offering alternative treatment to the operation that has been refused.

Malt beer with either a very low alcohol percentage, or none will provide some calories, as will the soft drinks we are usually told to avoid, and at the very least give you a different taste to the endless, boring menu of blended soup, milk puddings and yoghurt.

You should have been given an emergency appointment with a dietitian or specialist nurse!

Wiltshire Farm Foods sell a range of puree meals. Our Dad had them after his stroke. They are delivered frozen, and they can be reheated in the oven , or maybe microwave, or even an air fryer.

Definitely what Esmay says. Liquidise everything, I used to do this for my babies so they didn't have any processed food, add some boiled warer if it's too thick, you'll still get a variety of flavours that way.

That must be very upsetting for you olderme. Is there a chance you will be able to have the surgery at some point?
I hope you're not in too much pain or discomfort because of your condition ☹️

I agree with Esmay about using a blender.
I'd suggest you cook foods thoroughly first so they're soft, and make sure fruits are very ripe.
Add plenty of water to savoury foods and milk or yoghurt to sweet foods.

Best wishes xx

During my oral cancer treatment in 2024 I was prescribed Fortisip drinks. They never gave me enough and not always flavours I liked but you can buy them online (I think I used Amazon). They were handy for topping up both calories and vitamins/minerals and some can provide 600 cals per bottle. The bottles are quite small enough to fit in a handbag. Boots sell similar ones. Even though I can mostly eat normall now I still find times when a little bottle of goodness could be a godsend.

DH was supposed to be preparing soups etc for me but it never happened! I also used tinned fruit and cream is of course full of calories. Egg custards might be an option for you too.

How about using HUEL or Puriton ( I think that’s what it’s called). I have bought HUEL in the past. With HUEL you just add water but the other one needs milk.

You poor thing .I'm so sorry .
I don't have any brilliant suggestions apart from using a liquidiser so that you can make something tasty .
My father was on those supplement drinks and they gave him diarrhoea.If you an tolerate them - then they are a useful food replacement though after a while boring .
I opted for making soups and making a puree with a liquidiser .
You might be able to take them not fully pureed .
Wishing you a speedy recovery .
Esmay